The present invention relates to the field of pill dispensing systems and more particularly to a pill dispensing system for monitoring compliant receipt of pills by a patient.
Nowadays, it is more and more common that a patient needs to take a significant amount of medication during a certain period of time and sometimes at certain periods during a day.
In order to comply with the increased medication needs and appropriately organize the prescribed medication especially in the case that the medication is issued in the form of pills, a patient uses pill containers having various configurations of pill compartments. The quantity of pills being contained in each one of the pill compartments depends on the prescribed medication corresponding to each patient.
In an example, the pill containers are organized in an array of pill compartments having four columns and seven rows. Particularly, a pill compartment corresponds to each column and row intersection point. Each column is labelled such that it indicates a certain period during the day (morning, midday, afternoon, evening) while each row is labelled such that it indicates a certain day of a week. Also, the pill compartments are sealed by closures such that the pills being contained into each one of the pill compartments are secured.
However, the patients often neglect to take their pills at the prescribed date and time. This fact has a negative effect on the health of the patients, especially when their life depends on a strict compliant receipt of the prescribed pills.
In order to reduce the above mentioned negative health effects, the monitoring of the compliant receipt of the pills by a patient is necessary. For that purpose, pill dispensing systems for monitoring the compliant receipt of the pills by a patient are used. Particularly, the above mentioned pill dispensing systems are adapted to detect that a patient has received his pills at the prescribed date and time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,166 discloses an example of such pill dispensing systems. Particularly, the dispensing system of the above mentioned patent comprises a base unit having an area adapted to receive a pill container. The pill container comprises an array of pill compartments and a plurality of breakable closures, each sealing a respective one of the pill compartments. Furthermore, each breakable closure comprises a breakable conductor being adapted to break upon breaking of the breakable closure. The above mentioned pill dispensing system also comprises a microprocessor being connected to each one of the breakable conductors such that it can sense the accessing of each one of the pill compartments by a patient. The microprocessor actually senses a change of electrical signal resulting from the cutting of the electric current being transferred through each one of the breakable conductors to the microprocessor. The above mentioned cutting of the electric current takes place after the breaking of a respective one of the breakable conductors after the accessing by a patient of the pill compartment along which it passes the respective one of the breakable conductors.
However, the above mentioned sensing does not occur for a respective one of the pill compartments when the respective one of the breakable conductors that passes along the latter pill compartment presents defects. For example, if a respective one of the breakable conductors is broken during manufacturing, it is implicit that after the accessing of the corresponding pill compartment there will be no change in the electrical signal being received by the microprocessor. Particularly, in the case that the breakable conductor is broken during manufacturing, no electric current is transmitted by the above mentioned broken breakable conductor to the microprocessor neither before nor after the accessing of the corresponding pill compartment by a patient.
Thus, it goes without saying that a possible defect in one or more breakable conductors passing along one or more breakable closures of one ore more of the corresponding pill compartments of a pill container will significantly influence the monitoring of the compliant receipt of the pills by a patient and may end up being very dangerous for the health of the latter.
Accordingly, there is a need for more reliable pill dispensing systems for monitoring the compliant receipt of pills by a patient.